Word.ws English Dictionary

you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear

you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear proverb: it is not possible to produce something refined, admirable, or valuable from something which is unrefined, unpleasant, or of little or no value.

Proverb

you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear

  1. It is not possible to produce something refined, admirable, or valuable from something which is unrefined, unpleasant, or of little or no value.

Synonyms of you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear

Origin of you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear

From make a silk purse of a sow's ear, with the common perception of swine as unrefined, dirty, or base creatures.

Questions about you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear

What does you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear mean?
You can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear means it is not possible to produce something refined, admirable, or valuable from something which is unrefined, unpleasant, or of little or no value.
What part of speech is you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear?
You can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear is a proverb.

Words near you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear in the dictionary

  1. you can't go home again
  2. you can't judge a book by its cover
  3. you can't keep a good man down
  4. you can't live with 'em, you can't live without 'em
  5. you can't live with them, you can't live without them
  6. you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear
  7. you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs
  8. you can't make this stuff up
  9. you can't make this up
  10. you can't outrun your fork
  11. you can't polish a turd

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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